Was Tron ever cool? I remember in the ’80s it was this kind of also-ran sci-fi movie that had a unique look and cool concept—but dramatically, was pretty inert. It was this sort of intriguing flop that we’d revisit once in a while. I never would have pegged it as a franchise, but Disney has tried anyway, and, well, zzzzzzz . The original Wendy Carlos score is super cool and here’s a video on it which I enjoyed: It comes from a unique point in time when mixing synthesizers wi

I see that Paramount is now trying a hostile takeover of Warner Bros., to beat Netflix’s offer . I’m sure there are lots of corporate-merger subtleties to it that I don’t understand, but that’s the gist of it. This whole thing is depressing as all of these mergers will result in more consumer costs and less choice. That’s why we have monopoly rules. Or used to, anyway. The 1996 Telecommunications Act did a ton of damage. The concept is simple: when you allow vertical integra

Let’s hear it for the “white slavers,” as George jokingly called Disney after selling them Lucasfilm (and had to walk it back afterwards, so much fun): they have restored the original Star Wars Trilogy, without all the dumb changes, for theatrical re-release in 2027. And I’m sure for Disney+ afterwards. Clips have been leaking online: And here: Looks great! So strange—I feel like it was just yesterday that we were going to see the Special Editions. The new VFX were amazing,

It’s crazy that Netflix is acquiring Warner Bros. So now there’s just, what? Disney/Fox/ABV, Paramount/CBS, Amazon/MGM, Netflix/WB, Universal/NBC. And Apple, where making movies is a hobby. And Sony, who will probably be gobbled up next. Years ago somebody explained to me why TV movies are never any good: because they don’t have to be . They make some sensational piece of crap, people tune in, and by the time they realize it’s junk, they’ve gotten the ratings. (This is circa

David Newman is conducting John Williams’ score to Home Alone live to film at the Hollywood Bowl December 5–7. Go here for tickets , and use the code SPWDCH for 20% off select seats. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody, and here’s something to be thankful for: Thomas Newman is scoring the Star Wars: Starfighter movie . High hopes!

What an outstanding cliffhanger on Pluribus last night! Now I am annoyed I have to wait over a week for the next episode. Meanwhile, Stranger Things season 5 premieres later today, in which the kids schedule their first colonoscopies.

I am enjoying The Chair Company as it approaches its season finale next Sunday. I admire that it’s one of those things that’s so execution dependent that even describing it doesn’t make much sense. It’s a domestic drama, character study, a conspiracy thriller, and an absurd comedy—with surrealist Lynchian flourishes. Good work! It’s also a reminder that you can kind of make anything work as long as it’s grounded in humanity. Make the feelings relatable and you can get away w

Pluribus by Vince Gilligan on AppleTV is an instant favorite for me. But watching the third episode last night, it feels like there is another shoe that has to drop. (Mild spoilers ahead—but not really.) The Borg on Star Trek: The Next Generation were such an awesome villain because they were so completely uncaring, monolithic and unstoppable. But the writers quickly found that writing a hive mind for a villain became boring. When the adversary is incapable of change as its

I upgraded my desktop Mac to the new Tahoe OS—with trepidation because these major updates always foul up something in my routines. But I figured I might as well get it over with. The new Apple Music has inexplicably relocated the play bar to the bottom of the screen—and there seems to be no way to select a group of tracks and quickly get the playing time. This is a feature I use all the time—or should say, I used to use—especially when putting together CD productions. You te

Thumbs way up for Vince Gilligan—he’s done it again. Pluribus is wonderful. Rhea Seehorn stars as a cranky romance author who becomes somehow immune to an alien transmission that turns humanity into a (benign) hive mind. It’s a fresh and bizarre, but grounded, spin on Body Snatchers . So excited to watch something new that’s great!

The last of the living Star Trek: The Original Series directors, Ralph Senensky, has died at 102. Obituary here from Trekmovie . And here’s the one from Hollywood Reporter . He was a consistently excellent director in televison for a long time. He also stayed active until the very end, and his own website is full of memories from throughout his storied career, including of his Trek episodes . He was fired halfway through “ The Tholian Web ” because the new spacesuits slowed

That was quite the World Series. Congrats to the Dodgers. But I have to feel bad for the Blue Jays and their fans. They were so close and should have won several times. It reminds me of the agony of being a Red Sox fan prior to 2004. We hear the fireworks go off after their wins. My wife said, “Remind me, we destroy the city if they win or they lose?”

I’ve always loved the classic Z-A-Z spoofs: Airplane!, Police Squad, Top Secret . I loved them as a kid and they still hold up today. “Do you like movies about gladiators?” The imitators have never been any good, unfortunately. Mostly, they’re just not funny. But they fail from the get-go in trying to spoof things that are frivolous to begin with. The most important thing for any spoof? Source material that is stately, full of itself and totally asking for it. Which is, of co

Posted on LinkedIn this morning... It feels like there’s a generational turnover happening in entertainment. The old stuff isn’t connecting. Movie stars don’t mean anything. Young people (my tweener kids) don’t watch movies or television.  “All this has happened before, and will happen again”—thanks BSG! And Bill Goldman: “Nobody knows anything.” Remember those 1960s studio musicals that bombed, and then Easy Rider cleaned up? (I do, because I know history.) A.I. isn’t the a

I’ve written before how much a fan I am of Yoko Kanno, particularly Cowboy Bebop , Macross Plus, Ghost in the Shell and Wolf’s Rain . Wolf’s Rain was a weird anime show created by Keiko Nobumoto from the Cowboy Bebop team, about mystical wolves in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world who can appear as human...very strange and beautiful. So the thing about Yoko Kanno—she’s a genius, but she does use a lot of other music as models. You can hear—oh, that’s the Sting track, that’s

I watched the first episode of The Chair Company , a weird new HBO show that mixes comedy and thriller—a combo I don’t remember seeing before. I need to watch more to say anything useful. I was struck by the opening music of the pilot, which they use at least one more time, and I knew it must be a needle-drop. Not because I recognized it—it’s the opening of the classic 1970s instrument “Breezin’” by George Benson—but because the silky orchestration comes from another era enti

I watched the Task finale last night. What a great show. Interview with the creator and star at Deadline . Kudos to everybody involved.

I’m continuing to enjoy the demented, graphic world of The Boys , now with season 2 of Gen V coming to a close. Very cool twist about the bad guy! I was so into the X-Men as a kid, and now this is like a sicko anti-fascist X-Men for our time. Very dark satire but with a light sheen. Yay!

Thumbs up for the new John Candy documentary. I forgot how young he was when he passed. Website work is continuing—thank you for your patience!